In order for surveillance to be lawful, it must be targeted, based on reasonable suspicion, and subject to prior judicial authorisation.

Of course, governments all over the world would love to keep court findings of their illegal activity behind closed doors, but that’s not how open justice works.

It’s vital that surveillance measures don’t ride roughshod over the rights of the very people they’re supposed to protect.

06/03/2015 – In their preliminary public observations to the members of the Committee on Foreign Terrorist Fighters and Related Issues (COD-CTE) of the Council of Europe on the terms of reference to draft an Additional Protocol supplementing the Council of Europe Convention on the Prevention of Terrorism, Amnesty International and the International Commission of Jurists set out general principles and make short comments on the specific new criminal offences that shall be introduced by this international treaty.

This is an historic victory in the age-old battle for the right to privacy and free expression.

The UK has consistently evaded the question of Diego Garcia. This new information must finally trigger a truthful response from the UK authorities.

In the aftermath of the appalling attacks in Paris it is vital that France now takes a measured response and does not chip away at hard-fought human rights.

The Senate report makes it abundantly clear that foreign governments were essential to the ‘success’ of the CIA operations — and evidence that has been mounting for nearly a decade points to key European allies.

AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL

This was not the wide investigation into the hundreds of claims of human rights violations, including torture, against the British armed forces in Iraq that victims and NGOs have called for.

We will now appeal to Strasbourg, who might not be as inclined to put their trust in the UK government given what we know so far.

Careful, detailed analysis is needed – not fast-tracking and grandstanding.